Mystery surrounds Ave Maria board member's exit

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AVE MARIA - An Ave Maria University Board of Trustees member left the board under mysterious circumstances Thursday following a morning session.

Vic Melfa, 73, a Massachusetts entrepreneur who was appointed to the board last June, is no longer a member of the trustees, the university's governing body.

Approached around 2 p.m. in Ave Maria's town center with fellow board member James Holman, both confirmed that Melfa is not on the board any more.

"No, he's not," Holman said. "The how, why and wherefore is still up in the air."

Said Melfa, "I guess that's the answer, that I'm not on the board."

Asked whether Melfa resigned or was removed, Holman replied, "That's still to be decided."

"I have no comment on that," Melfa said. "I hope to be able to talk to you more openly and frankly in the future.

"The question is which information is helping and what is hurting," Melfa continued. "Basically, I want to help the university because it has a lot going for it."

Melfa, a Holy Cross graduate, is well-known in the conservative Catholic community for criticizing his alma mater for what he believes is straying too far from its Catholic identity. He is on the advisory board of the Cardinal Newman Society, a nonprofit conservative Catholic education organization. The Society featured Ave Maria University on its cover when it published its first college guide in Oct. 2007.

Melfa did not leave Ave Maria immediately, and was approached again around 3:30 p.m. after his lunch. He again declined to discuss why he was no longer on the board.

"I plan on speaking further to the press in the near future about things and what I'm going to do," he said.

Melfa said he remained an Ave Maria supporter.

Ave Maria President Nick Healy declined to comment in a statement issued by the university's Cleveland-based public relations firm.

"As with all board discussions and activities, this is a private matter," Healy said. "Thank you for your understanding."

Melfa's name was removed from the university's Web site by 4 p.m.

A university spokesman declined to comment about the removal of Melfa's name.

"The statement we have is all we can say about it," said spokesman Branden Blackmur.

Other Ave Maria board members either could not be reached for comment or declined comment.

The Rev. Mitch Pacwa declined comment through a spokesman for his media company, Ignatius Productions.

Melfa is chief executive officer of The Training Associates, a consulting company for information technology and business skill trainers worldwide. He's a founding member of the Boston chapter of Legatus, an organization for Catholic CEOs started by Ave Maria University founder and chancellor Tom Monaghan.

Earlier this month, Melfa issued a press release through his company announcing his appointment to Ave Maria's board, even though it occurred eight months ago.

"It's an honor to join Ave Maria's Board of Trustees," Melfa said in the release.

Also in the release, Melfa called his skill in developing new companies "a valuable asset to AMU, especially in these difficult economic times."

If Melfa was removed from the board, it would not be the first time someone left the board of an Ave Maria educational institution unwillingly.

In 2005, Charles Rice, a law professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, left the board of the Ave Maria School of Law. The school contended Rice could not stay on the board because of term limits. Rice has said he was removed because he disagreed with the school's desire to move to Southwest Florida.

Told Melfa's story in a telephone interview, Rice said he couldn't comment if the two experiences were similar.

"I can't comment on that because I don't know the situation down there," Rice said. "What I can tell you is that I have worked with Vic for years on the College of the Holy Cross. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Vic Melfa and he would be an outstanding asset to any board. He's a man of great integrity and an outstanding supporter of Catholic higher education."

Ave Maria University's bylaws state that a trustee can only be removed by a 2/3-majority vote. Prior to Melfa's removal, the university had 17 trustees listed on its Web site.